Which pocket money upgrade? Or.......

[chebby]

I have been blessed with the proceeds of selling my old Fubar II USB DAC (and Supplier PSU) that had been boxed at the back of a cupboard for long enough - since I bought the Beresford - waiting for me to get off my a.... and put it all on ebay.

I have enough money to afford the requisite 3.5m x 2 of Naim NAC-A5 speaker cable and have it terminated/soldered with Naim connectors and bananas. (I am currently still using a highly 'illegal' pair of 2.5m lengths of Chord Carnival.) Cost around £125 ish

Or...

I could upgrade my Rega Fono-Mini to the Rega Fono MM. Cost £162

Or...

I could sell the Rega P2 (and the very little used Rega Bias II cartridge I have kept as a spare), and put all the proceeds towards a new Technics SL-1210. Cost - anything from £350 - £600 depending on whether I go for SL1210 Mk2 or Mk5 G (minus whatever I can raise from Rega P2 sale.)

Or...

I could give up on vinyl completely, sell the Rega as above, sell the Beresford too, (and all the LPs) and put all the proceeds towards changing my Nait 5i/CD5i for a naimuniti.

One day I am thinking... "vinyl is a pain and do I really want to do this?" and the next day (after a couple of LPs) I am thinking... "this is marvellous, there is simply nothing quite like vinyl." Plus every time I see a Technics SL1210 mk5 G I get unnatural urges!

One day I am thinking.. "I have three boxes when I could have one nice tidy naimuniti that does everything with just one mains lead and the speaker cables" and the next day I am thinking... "shoving everything in one box is always going to mean quality compromises and besides I would not be saving any really usable space, it would just look better."

Sorry to ramble. It helps me think better to write all these options down with all the +ve and -ve factors.

So, a couple of pocket money upgrades that would leave my system pretty much as it is with either better/correct speaker cable or a better phono pre-amp. Or some pretty major stuff involving either a gorgeous new LP spinner or banishing vinyl forever and buying one of the world's best 'all-in-ones'.

 

[chebby]

Or maybe I should just drink a couple of bottles of wine and get on ebay tonight. Henceforth to be known as 'doing a Joel' !

 

[John Duncan]

Keep the/a turntable. Vinyl should be kept and cherished and passed on to one's children.

But spend your money on an upgrade to the Stageline phono stage powered from the Nait, saves you a plug socket...

 

[True Blue]

Go out and buy some more music. Best upgrade ever.

 

[True Blue]

And then do a "joel"

You have just upgraded, sit back and enjoy your system for a while. Well at least till the UnitiXS is released

 

[Anonymous]

I'd keep the fono mini, it's so much better than the budget models that have passed through these doors.

Of course, I'd have to say go for the Technics, whose purchase has got me frequenting all the used record shops in Paris.

I have NACA5 cables, which work as well as they all do. I have a vague memory that say Chord used to be the recommended cable before Naim made their own, but I could be wrong.

The naimuniti is a great idea, and I was in the process of selling all my gear collected over the decades to buy one, but have settled on the XS instead. Very tempting though, the apartment is a bit on the small side.

 

[the record spot]

There's an old Dansette on Ebay just now I hear...

 

[John Duncan]

I am still wondering how I could get a Uniti past the Finance Director...

 

[the record spot]

Claim it on expenses...? That seems to be a popular way to go about this kind of thing.

 

[chebby]

the record spot:There's an old Dansette on Ebay just now I hear...

Tempting. But I think I would rather get a new one. (If 'Needles & Spins' approve of the build and sound, who am I to argue?)

 

[Anonymous]

I would not bother with the NAC A5 if you have the chord carnival ss, you will not hear much difference if any at all, I would agree with JD and go with the stageline ............

 

[the record spot]

chebby:
I have been blessed with the proceeds of selling my old Fubar II USB DAC (and Supplier PSU) that had been boxed at the back of a cupboard for long enough - since I bought the Beresford - waiting for me to get off my a.... and put it all on ebay.

I have enough money to afford the requisite 3.5m x 2 of Naim NAC-A5 speaker cable and have it terminated/soldered with Naim connectors and bananas. (I am currently still using a highly 'illegal' pair of 2.5m lengths of Chord Carnival.) Cost around £125 ish

Or...

I could upgrade my Rega Fono-Mini to the Rega Fono MM. Cost £162

Or...

I could sell the Rega P2 (and the very little used Rega Bias II cartridge I have kept as a spare), and put all the proceeds towards a new Technics SL-1210. Cost - anything from £350 - £600 depending on whether I go for SL1210 Mk2 or Mk5 G (minus whatever I can raise from Rega P2 sale.)

Or...

I could give up on vinyl completely, sell the Rega as above, sell the Beresford too, (and all the LPs) and put all the proceeds towards changing my Nait 5i/CD5i for a naimuniti.

One day I am thinking... "vinyl is a pain and do I really want to do this?" and the next day (after a couple of LPs) I am thinking... "this is marvellous, there is simply nothing quite like vinyl." Plus every time I see a Technics SL1210 mk5 G I get unnatural urges!

One day I am thinking.. "I have three boxes when I could have one nice tidy naimuniti that does everything with just one mains lead and the speaker cables" and the next day I am thinking... "shoving everything in one box is always going to mean quality compromises and besides I would not be saving any really usable space, it would just look better."

Strikes me that - joking about Dansettes aside - the vinyl appeal is still burning a pretty strong flame, so I'd be less inclined to put it out for the time being. Plus, and depending on what LPs you have, there's no guarantee that going to the Ebay route will necessarily result in getting the net return you'd hope to achieve (or what it might actually be worth, Ebay being a force for driving values down as well as up).

How about an alternative? Get a 1210, in good nick, mod it with your RB-200 from your P2 (option: get the RB200 rewired - Michell, Origin, etc.), have the upgrade done, decent cartridge, replace the rubber mat with a new one, and later worry about power upgrades and new support feet if you want to go that far - stunning deck that'll lick the competition for miles (and pounds) around.

Yeah, it's a bit of a project (no pun intended) and not cheap, definitely not one box, but all that aside - wow - one hell of a record deck.

 

[Anonymous]

Technics 1210, but I am biased!!!

When you decide to have a party, get a cheap stylus and mixer, a friend who also has a technics 1210 and let everyone have a chance to listen to all that lovely music you have collected!

I have downsized from 2 decks to one but occasionally have fun taking the turntable out for a spin (though not with the DL-160).

Also, as the kids get older, you can train them to turn the records over!ÿ

 

[idc]

chebby:

I have been blessed with the proceeds of selling my old Fubar II USB DAC (and Supplier PSU) that had been boxed at the back of a cupboard for long enough.......

At the back of a cupboard, outrageous! Someone should get use out of them, I feel a new thread coming on................

P.S - my vote is to save and save and get the Uniti.

 

[fatboyslimfast]

leenorris78:Also, as the kids get older, you can train them to turn the records over!ÿ

I've got my 7-yr old doing a fine job in that department - although I'm not quite ready for her to try the 1st press Beatles albums yet...

 

[JoelSim]

A few questions and querys

1) How on earth can 5m of Carnival cost £125?

2) A Uniti would stop any upgrading, good for the bank manager, bad for fun and dreaming

3) Have you really reached Nirvana? It's not possible in my view

4) Keep your vinyl as it's fun, and different than just popping on a CD. More involving, especially having to get up every 20 minutes to change side - as you will know my CD sounds much better than vinyl so I don't really use vinyl

5) Sell the Naims and but some Arcam stuff, and at the same time feel ill through sleep deprivation, hangovers and wake up the following morning after doing a 'Joel' with something you fancy, but don't need. All because you don't want to go to bed becuase you are enjoying the music too much

6) Buy yourself some upgraded mains cables. Trust me you won't regret it - it's not an earth-shatteringly different sound, it's merely a refinement of a sound you like with more space, more air, more detail, longer trail offs, more atmospheric 'quiets' etc etc

7) Er health rings...

 

[chebby]

JoelSim:
A few questions and querys

1) How on earth can 5m of Carnival cost £125?

It doesn't. 7 metres of NAC-A5 (plus soldered Naim plugs) costs about £125

JoelSim:2) A Uniti would stop any upgrading, good for the bank manager, bad for fun and dreaming

3) Have you really reached Nirvana? It's not possible in my view

Never intended to reach 'Nirvana' whatever that is. Just enjoying having a decent music-centre sinced I dumped the Arcam.

JoelSim:... as you will know my CD sounds much better than vinyl so I don't really use vinyl

You never gave vinyl a chance. You compared a £900 CDP with a second hand £100 Project with the supplied cartridge. You wanted vinyl to 'lose' that contest.

JoelSim: 5) Sell the Naims and but some Arcam stuff.

I enjoy music too much.

JoelSim:6) Buy yourself some upgraded mains cables.

Don't need to. Did that before. (IsoTek etc.) Load of old tosh frankly.

 

[chebby]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Seems there is a consensus - so far - towards naimuniti and Technics SL1210. (The naimuniti will power the Naim Stageline whereas my Nait 5i will not. hmmm)

 

[Craig M.]

sell stuff/save and chop in the 5i amp for an xs? i think if it was me, that's the route i would examine rather then upgrade the deck, which it seems from your post you don't use as much as your cdp.

 

[chebby]

Craig M.:sell stuff/save and chop in the 5i amp for an xs? i think if it was me, that's the route i would examine rather then upgrade the deck, which it seems from your post you don't use as much as your cdp.

The Naim XS is just about to be relaunched in the new XS 'livery' and will now cost £1350 so that is out of the question for a long time yet. I have heard it (twice) and never want to hear it again! Too damned good and all too likely to draw me into a wasteful upgrade path and increased box count.

The naimuniti would 'cap' any upgrades at around the same (excellent) level of performance I am getting already, and getting rid of vinyl would cap any upgrades there too.

My system would be one box with speakers and if I got small wall-mounted/bookshelf speakers then the combined system 'footprint' (without TT) would be vastly reduced as would all that cabling. (I hate cables with a passion!) The naimuniti would not even need a cable to my computer. It just joins the home network. There would just be a short optical to the DVD/HDD recorder.

Lovely.

 

[John Duncan]

chebby:The naimuniti will power the Naim Stageline whereas my Nait 5i will not. hmmm

Web site says it will...

 

[John Duncan]

"The Stageline can be powered either from a special socket on the rear of the NAIT 5 or by a separate supply such as the Flat-Cap 2 for even better performance. "

 

[floyd droid]

Chebby, you are the guy who walked down the street with a prized slice of vinyl in a carrier bag ,remember that post ?. Do you realy want to say bye bye to that feeling ?.

 

[John Duncan]

JohnDuncan:"The Stageline can be powered either from a special socket on the rear of the NAIT 5 or by a separate supply such as the Flat-Cap 2 for even better performance. "

Though there's an i missing there, certainly...

 

[Messiah]

I just get the sense that you really want that Uniti. You have been dwelling on it for a while it seems and I think you should just get it and be done!

As has been mentioned you could add the turntable at a later date.

Buy the Uniti and be a happy man

You know you want too....